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Paperback Spotlight – SWAMP THING VOL. 1: RAISE THEM BONES

Paperback Spotlight – SWAMP THING VOL. 1: RAISE THEM BONES

It’s hard to believe that we’re already almost one full year into DC COMICS-THE NEW 52. To celebrate this monumental anniversary, each day this week on THE SOURCE we’ll be spotlighting a different paperback collected edition being released this month. With the launch storylines of these critically acclaimed series collected for the first time in their entirety, it’s a great way for new readers to join the growing DC Universe. Today, we shed a spotlight on SWAMP THING VOL. 1: RAISE THEM BONES.

“I couldn't be more excited about this release. SWAMP THING VOL. 1: RAISE THEM BONES is the first part of a story I've been dreaming about doing since I arrived at DC,” writer Scott Snyder told THE SOURCE. “The old Wrightson/Wein run I used to read over and over as a kid for its great gothic monster mashups and creepy storytelling. And then the Moore/Bissette run showed me how wickedly smart, frightening and inspiring a comic book could be. What I'm getting at is that Swamp Thing has long been one of my very favorite characters. And for me, doing this story meant trying do what so many great creators had done before us on the character - making something that was very much our own, something new, while still honoring the great Swamp Thing stories of the past. So this is our attempt to do that - in it, we give you a human Alec Holland, a man haunted by the knowledge that all his life, he's had a mysterious connection to the Green - the earth's plant life. A man who knows he is likely destined to become the monster known as Swamp Thing, the warrior and protector of the Green. What he doesn't know, though, is that he isn't just destined to be a Swamp Thing. He's destined to be the greatest protector the green has ever known - a warrior king Swamp Thing - a legend come to life, the savior of the Green in its time of greatest need. And it does need Alec Holland, and need him desperately. Because in the American desert, a different kind of monster is rising, a lord of death and pestilence, a horror of storm, building a bone kingdom to spread across the world. That's my pitch. I hope you'll take a look. Yanick Paquette has done the work of his life on this book, and I couldn't be prouder of him, or it. And Marco Rudy and Victor Ibanez, Val Staples and Nathan Fairbairn all brought the world of Swamp Thing to life in wonderfully nightmarish ways. So come to the swamp. The Green is waiting.”

“Swamp Thing has played a major role in my love of the medium itself,” added artist Yanick Paquette. “My first real art crush was Bernie Wrightson who I discovered looking in a French, black and white copy of SWAMP THING #4 (the one with the werewolf). I hunted down Bernie's work frantically and my early drawings have his stamps all over it. But it's the Moore, Bissette, Totleben, Yate and Veitch run on SWAMP THING that really deeply changed my vision of what American comics could be. Their works not only defined the character but, for me at least, became a fictional genre of its very own: poetic horror, terror and beauty told by daringly exploring the medium emotive possibilities.”

“When my turn came to contribute to SWAMP THING, it was that rich, intimate legacy that came to mind. It's not just drawing a character. That book is a genre of its own. And as I ventured in the swamp and built my corner, I’ve felt like openly acknowledging my forebears for who I’m so tributary.”

“I love this opening set of stories so much, both for its horror and its humanity,” concluded series editor Matt Idelson. “And while no one can replace Alec Holland as my favorite character of the piece (and rightly so), William is one terrifically twisted adversary!”

SWAMP THING VOL. 1: RAISE THEM BONES will be available in comic book stores on August 22 and in bookstores everywhere on August 28.